Football: Cyclones hope Pistol will shoot offense in new direction

Saturday

Aug 24, 2013 at 2:53 AM

The Iowa State football team averaged 24.5 points last season. That was ninth best in the Big 12. The running game never developed during the year. The passing attack wasn't that much better, or consistent.

The Iowa State football team averaged 24.5 points last season. That was ninth best in the Big 12. The running game never developed during the year. The passing attack wasn’t that much better, or consistent.

It wasn’t what Iowa State football coach Paul Rhoads envisioned.

So he dropped the off-set back shotgun formation the Cyclones tended to rely upon and picked up a Pistol instead.

ISU will be switching to the Pistol formatting in 2013 in hopes off reinvigorating the offense.

“We are excited about that,” Rhoads said. “We are excited about our backs that we having it back there. We are excited about the quarterback who understands it.”

The Pistol formation is a mini-shotgun formation where the quarterback stands about four yards behind the center. A running back lines up behind the quarterback. The formation allows teams to run the zone read, a staple of the ISU under Rhoads.

New offensive line coach Chris Klenakis helped bring the formation to popularity when he was the Nevada offensive coordinator in 2005.

“It gives you a combination of the spread schemes where you can run all the zone reads,” Klenakis said, “but it also gives you the combination of the power running game where you can come downhill with counters … and the powers and off tackles (run) plays. You’ve already put your quarterback at shotgun depth so you aren’t giving away your passing strengths.”

The Cyclones believe the Pistol plays to their strengths: a rushing game led by a deep stable of running backs and three returning offensive line starters.

“You have blue collar (offensive linemen), you got to have great downhill runners and you have to have big play receivers, guys that can take it deep,” Klenakis said.

Rhoads, a former defensive coordinator, also likes the formation for the problems it can pose to a defense.

“The advantages that you gain with directional offenses, there is still a place to do certain things … you start throwing people in motion, things like that,” Rhoads said. “You really keep a defense at bay now with which way is it coming? Which way is it going?”

Opponents found ISU ran the ball in a certain side of the field last year based on where the running back stood last season. It was a big reason why the Cyclones only averaged 150.1 rushing yards in 2012. The Pistol negates that problem because with the running back behind the quarterback, a ball carrier can run in any direction.

The ISU running backs like the changes.

“It’s pretty much the same zone concept, but we are coming out of the backfield and it’s no side to side (running),” running back Shontrelle Johnson said. “It’s harder for our defense to pick up as opposed to being on one side and you are going there.”

ISU wants to be a run-first team. Quarterback Sam Richardson thinks the new formation will help the Cyclones establish their desired identity because it plays to the athletic nature of the offensive line.

“It’s an offense that is suited for them,” Richardson said. “As an offensive line they work really well with it. That is the main focus of it. We will see great improvement with running the ball because of how well they play.”

Rhoads wants the ISU offense to be unique, something Big 12 opponents don’t prepare for on a weekly basis. Klenakis describes the Pistol as a smash mouth, downhill running offense. It’s a stark contrast to the spread it out and air out offenses that populate the conference.

Klenakis, who was the Arkansas offensive line coach last season, is certain the Pistol is what the Cyclones need to stand out and start finding the end zone more often.

“It is a physical offense and it requires physicality,” Klenakis said. “There are power schemes in it. That’s why we were able to use it in the SEC and have good success with it there too.”

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